Background
William Clevland was the son of Commodore William Clevland, a Scotsman who settled at Tapeley Park, near Bideford, Devon.
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William Clevland
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Career
In the 1730s Clevland was working for the Royal African Society, which had a monopoly on trade at Sierra Leone. He was on board a slave ship that was wrecked off the Banana Islands. He and surviving African slaves made their way to the islands, which they settled.
Clevland took power and named himself as king.
He had three children: By Kate Corker, daughter of King Skinner Corker:
John Clevland (1740)
Elizabeth Clevland Hardcastle (1741-1808) who settled in South Carolina. By Ndamba, a Kissi woman.
Their Eurafrican children included:
James Cleveland
Both Elizabeth and James were sent to England for his education. John succeeded his father as sovereign of the Banana Islands, and was in turn succeeded by James Cleveland.
In this period, the British had a trading post at the mouth of the Sierra Leone River and by 1792 had established a colony of freedmen at Freetown.
